By Michael Allen, Thu, May 16, 2013
While Republicans attack the Obama administration over some IRS agents auditing conservative groups with the words "Tea Party" and "patriot" in their names, they weren't particularly outraged when the IRS targeted liberal groups during President George W. Bush's presidency, noted Salon.com.

“I wish there was more GOP interest when I raised the same issue during the Bush administration, where they audited a progressive church in my district in what look liked a very selective way,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told MSNBC on Monday (video below).

One of the liberal groups targeted by the IRS under the Bush administration was All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, reported the Los Angeles Times.

The IRS actually threatened to revoke the church's tax-emption because Pastor George Regas said: ‘Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine," on the Sunday before the 2004 election.

Ironically, conservative churches that actively campaigned for President Bush in 2004 were not audited by the IRS, reported the New York Times.

According to the Baltimore Sun, the IRS also went after the NAACP after they said Bush was the first president since Herbert Hoover not to address the organization.

In 2006, the IRS investigated the liberal environmental group Greenpeace after a conservative group called "Public Interest Watch," which had financial ties to Exxon, pushed for an investigation, reported Democracy Now.

__________________
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By Michael Allen, Thu, May 16, 2013
While Republicans attack the Obama administration over some IRS agents auditing conservative groups with the words "Tea Party" and "patriot" in their names, they weren't particularly outraged when the IRS targeted liberal groups during President George W. Bush's presidency, noted Salon.com.

“I wish there was more GOP interest when I raised the same issue during the Bush administration, where they audited a progressive church in my district in what look liked a very selective way,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told MSNBC on Monday (video below).

One of the liberal groups targeted by the IRS under the Bush administration was All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, reported the Los Angeles Times.

The IRS actually threatened to revoke the church's tax-emption because Pastor George Regas said: ‘Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine," on the Sunday before the 2004 election.

Ironically, conservative churches that actively campaigned for President Bush in 2004 were not audited by the IRS, reported the New York Times.

According to the Baltimore Sun, the IRS also went after the NAACP after they said Bush was the first president since Herbert Hoover not to address the organization.

In 2006, the IRS investigated the liberal environmental group Greenpeace after a conservative group called "Public Interest Watch," which had financial ties to Exxon, pushed for an investigation, reported Democracy Now.

There are still plenty of unanswered questions about how Internal Revenue Service agents in Cincinnati started targeting certain groups applying for tax-exempt status, like who first issued the directive to start looking for “tea party” groups. But testimony Friday by outgoing acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller and IRS watchdog J. Russell George filled in some blanks.

Here’s a very rough outline of what we know at this point:

March 2010 – IRS officials in the Cincinnati tax-exempt unit start using the search terms “tea party,” “patriot” and “9/12” to filter certain applicants, according to the Inspector General’s report.

April 2010 – IRS officials in Cincinnati and Washington agree to start work on what’s called a “Sensitive Case Report” about these groups and whether they need to come up with special criteria for finding and reviewing applications that fall under the “tea party” umbrella, according to the IG report.

June 2010 – Managers in Cincinnati start training agents on emerging issues to look out for, including what’s referred to as “tea party cases” in the inspector general’s report.

July 2010 – Managers in Cincinnati tell their agents to “be on the lookout for tea party applications,” according to the IG report. Weeks later, an e-mail is circulated in Cincinnati telling agents to flag “local organizations in the Tea Party movement” applying for tax exempt status under 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) of the tax code. On August 12, that description is included on the division’s official watch list.

October 2010 to March 2011 – Agents in Cincinnati await formal guidance from a team in Washington about how to process these cases and repeatedly express their impatience as the process drags on, according to the IG report.

March 31, 2011 – A top manager in Cincinnati sends an e-mail saying agents need to keep working these “tea party cases,” even as they await more guidance from Washington, according to the IG report. This contradicts an earlier directive not to work on these applications until officials in Washington come to an agreement on how to process them.

June 29, 2011 – Lois Lerner, the head of the tax-exempt section, is briefed on the “tea party” searches and raises immediate concerns, according to the IG report. She immediately instructs her department to revise the criteria used for these searches.

July 5, 2011 – In a conference call, Lerner tells the head of the tax-exempt group in Cincinnati to look at “organizations involved with political, lobbying or advocacy.”

January 2012 – The IRS office in Cincinnati sends out its first batch of letter requesting additional information, according to the IG report.

January 25, 2012 – IRS officials in Cincinnati essentially reverse Lerner’s directive and resume searching for “political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform/movement,’ according to the IG report.

February 2012– Conservative groups start to complain to the media that they are being unfairly targeted.

March 2012 – Top IRS officials in Washington discuss media reports about conservative groups being unfairly targeted, according to the IG report.

May 2012 – IRS officials in Washington essentially take over the process of reviewing these cases, according to multiple items in the IG report. A group flies to Cincinnati to train agents how to process these applications. Agents in Cincinnati and Washington start reviewing all the cases.

May 2012 – George said he alerted then-IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman about his investigation.

June 2012 — On June 4, George told the top lawyer at the Treasury Department and, shortly thereafter, Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin. George briefed new Treasury Secretary Jack Lew about the investigation after Lew was appointed, George said. During the hearing, George later clarified that he only apprised the top Treasury officials that he was investigating questions about improper targeting of conservative groups, not his findings. The Treasury Department, in a statement, said officials were notified in June 2012 that an audit had begun. Treasury also said Wolin and Lew “learned about [inspector general’s] findings when they were reported publicly last week.”

May 9, 2013 — Lerner, the head of the tax-exempt section, calls Celia Roady, a
member of an IRS advisory body, and asks her to ask a question to Ms. Lerner at an tax conference the next day, according to a statement issued by Ms. Roady. Ms. Roady said in the statement: “I agreed to do so, and she then gave me the question that I asked at the meeting the next day. We had no discussion thereafter on the topic of the question, nor had we spoken about any of this before I received her call. She did not tell me, and I did not know, how she would answer the question.”

May 10, 2013 –Lerner discloses IRS targeting of conservative groups in response to the planted question. Ahead of this disclosure, acting chief Miller said in testimony to the Ways and Means Committee on May 17, the IRS had “called to get on the calendar” to brief Ways and Means – a claim Republicans met with disbelief.

By Michael Allen, Thu, May 16, 2013
While Republicans attack the Obama administration over some IRS agents auditing conservative groups with the words "Tea Party" and "patriot" in their names, they weren't particularly outraged when the IRS targeted liberal groups during President George W. Bush's presidency, noted Salon.com.

“I wish there was more GOP interest when I raised the same issue during the Bush administration, where they audited a progressive church in my district in what look liked a very selective way,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told MSNBC on Monday (video below).

One of the liberal groups targeted by the IRS under the Bush administration was All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, reported the Los Angeles Times.

The IRS actually threatened to revoke the church's tax-emption because Pastor George Regas said: ‘Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine," on the Sunday before the 2004 election.

Ironically, conservative churches that actively campaigned for President Bush in 2004 were not audited by the IRS, reported the New York Times.

According to the Baltimore Sun, the IRS also went after the NAACP after they said Bush was the first president since Herbert Hoover not to address the organization.

In 2006, the IRS investigated the liberal environmental group Greenpeace after a conservative group called "Public Interest Watch," which had financial ties to Exxon, pushed for an investigation, reported Democracy Now.

And it was just as wrong then as it is now. Let's not pretend that the government using the convoluted tax code against people they don't like is some new development.

By Michael Allen, Thu, May 16, 2013
While Republicans attack the Obama administration over some IRS agents auditing conservative groups with the words "Tea Party" and "patriot" in their names, they weren't particularly outraged when the IRS targeted liberal groups during President George W. Bush's presidency, noted Salon.com.

“I wish there was more GOP interest when I raised the same issue during the Bush administration, where they audited a progressive church in my district in what look liked a very selective way,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told MSNBC on Monday (video below).

One of the liberal groups targeted by the IRS under the Bush administration was All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, reported the Los Angeles Times.

The IRS actually threatened to revoke the church's tax-emption because Pastor George Regas said: ‘Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine," on the Sunday before the 2004 election.

Ironically, conservative churches that actively campaigned for President Bush in 2004 were not audited by the IRS, reported the New York Times.

According to the Baltimore Sun, the IRS also went after the NAACP after they said Bush was the first president since Herbert Hoover not to address the organization.

In 2006, the IRS investigated the liberal environmental group Greenpeace after a conservative group called "Public Interest Watch," which had financial ties to Exxon, pushed for an investigation, reported Democracy Now.

Is that all they did investigate?

__________________
Hunting snow geese over decoys, is all about White Power.

By Michael Allen, Thu, May 16, 2013
While Republicans attack the Obama administration over some IRS agents auditing conservative groups with the words "Tea Party" and "patriot" in their names, they weren't particularly outraged when the IRS targeted liberal groups during President George W. Bush's presidency, noted Salon.com.

“I wish there was more GOP interest when I raised the same issue during the Bush administration, where they audited a progressive church in my district in what look liked a very selective way,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told MSNBC on Monday (video below).

One of the liberal groups targeted by the IRS under the Bush administration was All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, reported the Los Angeles Times.

The IRS actually threatened to revoke the church's tax-emption because Pastor George Regas said: ‘Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine," on the Sunday before the 2004 election.

Ironically, conservative churches that actively campaigned for President Bush in 2004 were not audited by the IRS, reported the New York Times.

According to the Baltimore Sun, the IRS also went after the NAACP after they said Bush was the first president since Herbert Hoover not to address the organization.

In 2006, the IRS investigated the liberal environmental group Greenpeace after a conservative group called "Public Interest Watch," which had financial ties to Exxon, pushed for an investigation, reported Democracy Now.

What was the basis for auditing that church?

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"I'll see you guys in New York." ISIS Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to US military personnel upon his release from US custody at Camp Bucca in Iraq during Obama's first year in office.